Took a group of clients out to a high end steak joint and began drinking copious amounts of wine. Below is my ranking of them.

1. 2004 Glaetzer Godolphin Shiraz - Wow. Wow. I mean WOW! I never would have picked this wine off the list (Eric the sommelier recommended) as I had dismissed Australians as "fun but flabby." This thing is a monster in sheeps clothing. Aromas of deep fruits, cherries, and blackberry. Tastes beautifully elegant with concentrated black and blue fruit that is so elegant, yet it has the flavorful distinctiveness of Syrah. It ends with a touch of vanilla oak. Incredible finish thats lasts forever.

This is the best wine I have had all year. Awesome stuff and I had never heard of it before this dinner. I would describe it as the best of Shiraz and Cabernet in one bottle as it is 80 Shiraz and 20 Cabernet.

This could be the wine the completely converts me to taking Aussie wines seriously.

2. 2002 David Arthur Cabernet - Wonderfully rich concentrated cabernet that is indicative of all the great things about the varietal.

3. Girard Cabernet Franc - Very nice inexpensive wine that had a great amount of upfront fruit that makes it great with steak, not the best finish in the world. Great value so we had a couple bottles of this one.

4. 2003 Clos St. Jean CDP - Too young and very fruitty without the minerality that I expect from good CDP. Very odd. Sent the first bottle back as it was corked. This was good, but very young and restrained against tough company.

Great fun with a great group of guys. We also had a Warre's 1987 Port that was good, but not worth the price (200 per bottle).

In hunting it down, it appears that it actually sells under the name of Amon Ra Godolphin, though it is made by Glaetzer. They also make an Amon Ra Barossa Shiraz that seems to have a fair amount of hype and allegedly is an "Aussie Cult Wine," whatever that means... :-)

I am trying to track them both down. Incredible delicious wine. I have found it for anywhere from 60 to 100 bucks a bottle but am still looking around.

Brought into this country by The Greatful Palate. Amon Ra is some of the best juice coming out of Aussie. The price doesn't even touch "Cult" status......... but the wine does. Have 3 '04s in the cellar of the Godolphin and 5 Amon ras. I believe I have a few from the '03 vintage as well. Wish I would have known WOW as I would have brought these to the offline.

Sounds like a fun night. Parker has been on an Aussie kick the last five years or so. I've bought quite a few that he rated at 95-100 for under $100 when I was a point chaser a while back. I'm waiting to see if it pays off when their drinking window opens a bit.

Sorry, not The Grateful Palate, but by Ben Hammerschlag. I believe his company is called Epicurian imports or something like that. Also, I wouldn't worry too much about an open window with these wines. In my opinion, these are great right now. It's hard for me to age a wine that is so great young.